Hi Nessieh, I don't think the dining room will look odd having its door blocked up as, from my understanding of the plan, it will all become one big room, so it won't look like it's missing a door. Also I don't think it would look unusual keeping the bit of wall where the dining room door is, a well considered furniture & wall decoration plan will help this even more so. Hope that helps! PB

Hi, Nessieh,

Looking at the plan, is it at all possible to move the doorway (the one marked 'b') back towards the hall? That way the kitchen/family room would be a bit bigger, and there wouldn't be a little lobby before the new kitchen door. I realise that the need to have some wall left for the beam to sit on must be taken into account, but wonder if the issue couldn't be solved that way.

Hi, I don't think it will look odd at all. I am wondering why you have created a hall between kitchen and utility room? I'd leave that wall and just have the back door enter into the utility room, which can look perfectly nice.

Hi,

It will look fantastic. You just need to plan your furniture layout in a way that really complements the space. If anything it will enhance the character of the room. It will be a space with endless possibilities. Just get in touch if you want any help moving forward - it looks like a very exciting project.
Annika

I think the door is fine.... the space will read as one big room.
My only comment is that with numerous doors the available space for kitchen cabinets and appliances is limited. Before building work starts and drains and windows and door positions are finalised I think you need to get a kitchen design that you are happy with.
Lots of kitchen retailers can help with this- alternatively you can use someone who provides a design only service such as One Plan.

Thanks for the mention Jonathan !
I had a quick look at this at lunchtime - and agreed with a Anna re the door...
I did wonder if the pantry would be a bit far away from the kitchen, over in the corner behind the door ?!

On the subject of doors: I count 12. That seems like a lot. A lot of banging. A lot of "excuse me" and "sorry" time. And a lot of expense. I'm going to have a think about whether you can eliminate some (Carolina's already made one good suggestion) or at least make sure they swing the right way or convert some to pocket doors.....

Hi Nessieh,

If your worried about how it's going to look have you thought about having a professional do you some 3D renders of the space? We just did something very similar and I just couldn't imagine how the space would look and flow and was brain dead from staring at floorplans

Hi All, thank you so much for your opinions. Thought I'd do a group reply!
Ana- we thought about moving door B back towards the lounge as well but not sure what impact this will have on the stairs but will look into it. Thanks.
Carolina-the hallway between kitchen & utility is an old fashioned lean to. We are having a new roof the length of garage & lean to. It's easier to leave it as this type of area, there's a soil pipe that would need moving & a few other bits! So we are having the floor raised to be same height as kitchen floor. I do like the idea if I understand right of leaving the back door off & having a straight walk through to utility. Thanks for the pictures, good inspiration.
Jonathan- yes we will be looking at getting a kitchen design company in. We have a walk in pantry, so hopefully we won't need too many cupboards. We do like the idea of having a bank of units on the back kitchen wall that encompasses the fridge, freezer & oven.
One Plan- hopefully we will have the cooker in the middle of the kitchen area on an island or peninsular, not sure yet. I see you agree about moving door B as well, good minds think alike!
Boundsgreener- I know it looks like a lot of doors, but all essential I think apart from maybe what Carolina suggested. The store door is outside so don't need to worry about that. Like the idea of pocket doors, thanks for suggestion.
Claire-I must admit I'd really like to see the plan in 3D, I'm feeling a bit how you did! Do you know of any companies on here that provide this service?
Once again thank you all for taking the time to comment, much appreciated.

Well, OnePlan did a 3D plan for us, for our new kitchen. Very cool, even with some sort of video thingy that made it look like we were in the kitchen and could look around.
She does kitchen designs and is also a good space planner.
But there are more pros here who offer a 3D design service.

Hi, I think your open plan layout looks amazing! Theres no need to worry about the small wall as already mentioned, this wont look out place once its a wall. The only area of your plan that I would reconsider is the utility / WC. The hall connecting these seems unnecessary and you may be better off considering opening the door straight into the utility room which then opens into the WC. This would afford a larger WC and utility instead of losing space to the hall way connecting them. Good Luck with your project!

Carolina, That sounds just what I need to get my head around what it will look like. I will have a look at One Plan, your not the first to mention them & see what they offer. Thanks.

Hi again,

We used an independent designer and having spoken with or met with a few different professionals from here on Houzz, for a number of reasons we went with Gina from Create Perfect, who has been amazing from start to finish (highly recommended!)

As mentioned by Carolina below, we were also super lucky and Gina even did YouTube videos for us of a virtual walk around of the space, so we could weigh up different options.

One thing I didn't know before we started all this is that with a good designer you also benefit from all of their trade discounts, so whilst they might cost a little bit of money up front (hundreds not thousands!) you will undoubtedly save in the long run, so whoever you chose definitely ask what discounts they get and what they're prepared to pass on to you

Gina also liaised with kitchen companies etc on our behalf to make sure we were getting exactly what we needed!

I would spend the money we spent on a designer 10 times over and for what you'll spend on kitchens and building works it really is a small investment and makes the whole process a lot less stressful and a lot more fun

Here are a couple of pics from ours of where we started and where we're at so far... still lots of bits to do before we finish but you'll get the general idea...

Before we had 3 small and dated rooms...

The 3D renders we chose as our final design (one of 6 layouts Gina came up with)...

And so far (still waiting for a lot of furniture)...

Hope it helps!

Eternal Kitchen Ltd, thank you for your comment. I think I'm getting my head around the fact that the wall in question will look fine. Would be nice to see it in 3D, just to put my mind at rest! The hallway between kitchen/utility is going to have to stay as it is. it is useful, coming in from the back garden & not getting mud all over the kitchen floor from us & mainly our son! We are raising the floor level so the same as main house & putting a new roof the length of it & garage. It's the old horrible asbestos roof so needs to be done. Can't wait to get the project started.

Hi Claire, wow your room looks fabulous. What a transformation. Love the blue color, love it all! You must be really pleased. Great advice as well, I'll take it onboard, thank you.

Hi Nessieh,

How exciting! It looks like you're going to have a fab space.

The door is definitely nothing to worry about, in fact it will be useful to have that bit of extra wall creating more usable space in that area of the room but also to make the hall feel a little more pleasant and less like a corridor area.

I love the rest of the layout and the access you have created. It seems completely sensible to have the utility separate for taking off dirty clothes and outside jobs or coming in from the Garage. The food storage is also sensibly placed for coming in with bags of food etc - and through it all you keep this great open plan space for the family! Great.

I find (like with Claire above - Hi Claire!), my clients find it useful to see their projects in a series of 3D images or walk-around videos before spending such a large amount of money on renovating or building. If anything it is piece of mind, but more often than not, you will see things you couldn't imagine and then have the time to change them or rearrange things which you just don't get further down the line.

I wish you all the best, I am sure it is going to look great!! Gina

I would definitely take that small section of wall out. I would build a 225mm square pier against the lounge wall to carry the steel. This can obviously have been designed by the structural engineer. Would also take the small food cupboard out too. Too many doors in such a small area

3D renders are incredibly useful. When we were designing our kitchen and utility in 2013 as part of a new build, we approached OnePlan after coming across her here on Houzz. She was so approachable and proactive, providing a full assessment of our needs. She brought a wealth of experience to the table, I believe she's been designing primarily kitchens for about 30 years, as well as having huge expertise in space planning. We were delighted with the final design and have been living in the new house and using the kitchen regularly for the last two years. The ergonomics work well for us as all of our (many) peculiarities were accounted for.

The first utility Carolina posted above is mine. I believe further photos are on OnePlan's pro page.

Since then, Houzz has attracted many new companies offering kitchen design and similar services. I think the fact that so many people continue to hold Karen in high regard is testament to her abilities and professionalism.

Good luck with your project.

@Victoria: nice utility! Love the little labels on the baskets and the raised washer and dryer.

Obviously not quite like a 3D plan (!), but hopefully you get the idea. At the moment that entire area near the pantry down to the door in the middle of the kitchen is unusable space. It would be such a shame to go to all this effort and not have a home that performs as well as it could. Good luck!

OnePlan has produced a great option here- I was concerned when I looked at the original plan that there would be less kitchen cabinet space than the original kitchen.
I also felt that the understairs cupboard wouldn't actually provide significant kitchen storage and would in fact be needed for the vacuum, ironing board, steam mop and recycling so the drawers in the kitchen are a great solution.

Hi, I had a comment this morning from OnePlan, thank you. But when I clicked on the email link to view it, it wasn't there! Jonathan has referenced the message in his last comment. Any ideas where it's gone?!!

Yes, that's happened on my screen too. I thought it was just mine. She may have deleted it to redo it for some reason.

Create Perfect, glad it doesn't seem to be just me!! I was getting really annoyed trying to find where it had disappeared too!

I can't see it either!

The other thing is it could have been flagged for some reason. Anyone can do it to a comment if they think it's inappropriate for some reason.
I noticed she's been leaving comments on pricing sometimes which we are not suppose to do (along with advertising ourselves).. so maybe it's that.
I am sure if you email her through her page she would be happy to resend you her thoughts.

That could explain it!

Hi OnePlan, thank you for reposting. Your ideas are certainly giving me something to think about. They are great ideas. I have contacted you on your webpage form when your post disappeared, would you be able to email me your costs please? Thank you.

I've responded to two enquires this morning - so hopefully you were one? if not try via the contact me button on my pro page.. thanks !

[marketing note : this is an example of our sketch consult service - normally chargeable at £35per hour -but happily given FOC to this Houzzer in this instance. See our pro page for more info on this and other freelance services ]